Reliance Jio data leak: Tech gets smarter but your safety gets dumber

A website called leaked key details such as email addresses, names and Aadhar ID details (in some cases) of Reliance Jio smartphone users.

ET Online

July 10, 2017, 14:08 IST

NEW DELHI: After a website called 'magicapk' leaked details such as email addresses, names and Aadhar ID details (in some cases) of Reliance Jiosmartphone users, many would consider the risks of using a smartphone, something that never gets the attention it deserves.

Activists and NGOs have cried themselves hoarse over the risks associated with Aadhaar, the government's identity number programme, but few realise the smartphones are a far bigger risk.

"The biggest privacy risk that you have is your smartphone. A billion people will have smartphones as we go forward, their conversations will be recorded, their messages will be read, their location can be identified with the GPS or the triangulation of the towers on a real-time basis. So, for 24 hours a day, you know where a person is. Using all the accelerometers and gyrometers on the phone, you can actually make out if someone is drunk or not. The kind of intrusion of privacy that the smartphone does is order of magnitudes higher," former UIDAI chairman Nandan Nilekani said in an interview to a newspaper while defending Aadhaar.

As the world gets more connected and smart technology comes to rule our lives, our security risks too grow bigger. A smartphone makes our life convenient but also exposes us to dangerous risks. Reliance Jio data leak is a small event when you consider the possibilities of risks associated with a smartphone.

For example, your compromised Aadhaar number leading to your income tax details might tell the hackers how much ransom you can pay them. Your private information can be misused by your clients, extortionists, business partners and a variety of anti-social elements in a range of dangerous ways.

The 'internet of things', which means interconnectivity of everything with your smartphone, is a revolutionary concept that can make your world yield to your smartphone. But it is also a grave risk to your privacy and security.

WikiLeaks' allegation that the CIA secretly controlled some Samsung smart TVs and used them on owners as listening devices may not be true but it is very much possible with the internet of things.

According to research firm Gartner, there would be 8.4 billion connected objects in use in 2017, up 31 per cent from 2016. By 2020, this number could reach 20.4 billion. These connected objects would include medical devices and other essential gadgets. And all of them will be vulnerable to hacking.

Smart tech fascinates policy makers too because it is one quick way to improve outcome as well as efficiency. But smart cities could be security nightmares even though they promise to make urban life more comfortable.

"Although data sharing between agencies may improve bureaucratic outcomes, data breaches at the federal level cast doubt on local governments’ ability to keep data safe, and smart city tools also make possible the sale of personal data to private firms. Meanwhile, increasing governments’ capacity for surveillance raises concerns about civil rights and privacy," says a study by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University in the US which looks at both the positive and the negative aspects of smart cities.

Though we have yet to overcome our infatuation with smart technology, frequent data leaks prove that internet connecting our lives, objects of use and the world at large may not be a very smart idea.